abbygate lnssurance

Abbygate? Before you renew or insure with them consider the following after reading of my experience with them.

Because they are a UK based firm do you expect that if you experience any problems you will automatically be dealing directly with English speaking assisters?

Do you expect wording in English to be of a true meaning? At this point let me interject about my language skills as an Englishman, O level English (this probably puts me slightly above average amongst English speakers), and Conversational Spanish (this probably puts me well above average amongst English ex-pats).

Let me recount wordings on policy’s, at the moment I insure four vehicles on policy’s with Abbygate and on preparing to insure the fourth I read the details of another of my cars and on the question does the insured have the use of other vehicles they had inserted No. Because in their advertisement’s they claim to give extra discount’s for you second and subsequent vehicles I questioned Adam (Cadiz office) about this and his reply was that I was getting the discount and what it really meant was that the insured was not insured to drive vehicles belonging to someone else (normally on UK policy’s you have third party cover on a vehicle not owned by you if you are insured fully comprehensive).

 At this stage alarm bells should have rung? If you ask Abbygate for a quote they will give it to you verbally but not by email they are also very slow and I believe reluctant to answer any emails.

My big problem with Abbygate stems again on the wording in the breakdown cover wording interpretation which states that if a breakdown occurs, if the repair can be made at the roadside within 30 minutes the repair will be made with the cost of parts being charged for, if the repair is not possible within thirty minutes the vehicle will be transported up to a maximum distance of 150 kilometers at a maximum cost of 300 euros. The first part, roadside repairs, implies to me that someone with mechanical knowledge will either drive or accompany the tow vehicle, Abbygates answer to this was, not all drivers are registered mechanics. Then reword the conditions so we know what quality of service we are going to get for our money.

Now to my story, I have an agreement with an English friend that he can have the use of my finca in Cordoba and my Mazda pickup to transport, breed and fatten his Tamworth pigs. The agreement includes me having half of the meat produced for my family, friends and myself.

After an uneventful journey through France and into Spain he stopped at a petrol station forecourt at Miranda de Ebro, Burgos for the smokers to partake of their chosen drug, on restarting the engine instead of idling it repeatedly revved up to 3,000 rpm and then died down again. My friend telephoned for assistance and when the breakdown truck arrived was given the following option; take the vehicle minus the trailer to the maximum 150 Ks or 300 euros and the passengers to Madrid.

In 30 something years driving in the UK I fortunately never required road side assistance but in Spain I have had to call for roadside assistance on numerous occasions and without fail they the drivers have wanted to take me to a garage, on one occasion all I required was the use of a jack do suspect that the drivers or even the breakdown company do receive some sort of remuneration when they deliver a breakdown.

On receiving a phone call at 4 pm Sunday my concern was for the animals and so with the aid of a Spanish friend set of for Miranda (800 kilometers). On arrival we spoke to the break down service (the local one, not Coris) who started off with a quote to tow the Mazda back to Cordoba with a quote of 500 euros which then went up to 1,000 which I reluctantly accepted only then threw in that some one must wait until 8 pm( bearing in mind that this is Spain this could be any time) to hand over the keys. Once again thinking about the animals I decided to abandon the Mazda and seek assistance from Abbygate/Coris on arrival at home.

The first thing they threw at me was because the trailer with pigs was being towed it must be business and that I was only insured, social, domestic and pleasure (I must admit I talk to the pigs social? domestic, they do finish up in the freezer, Pleasure, yes I do enjoy keeping pigs and eating them.

A quote from the great sir Winston Churchill, cats look down on us, dogs look up to us but pigs treat us as being on the same level. I digress.

At some stage I was passed on to a Christina who I believe she did her best for me, to whom I suggested that the key be sent by courier to the whoever was nominated by them to take the mazda to the nearest garage for repair. This was rejected because they required the key to be handed over personally. The self same thing I have arranged with a garage in Miranda and something they could have done much easier because of their contacts.

At a later date I sent an email to Adam(Cadiz) which was eventually answered by someone else, who once again came up with the Social, domestic & pleasure plus, possibly the problem was caused by towing an overloaded trailer? In my opinion of interest to Trafico if that was the case and not the insures?

How would I have gone on without my Spanish and indeed without Spanish friends?

Before posting this I will submit it to Abbygate to see if they would like to comment.

Alant  .............it really meant was that the insured was not insured to drive vehicles belonging to someone else (normally on UK policy’s you have third party cover on a vehicle not owned by you if you are insured fully comprehensive)................

I have not read through the very long post but :-

In Spain vehicles are (normally, always in my 27 years’ experience) insured to cover all drivers.  i.e. no polices (were/are)  owner only, and no policies provide minimum (3^rd party) insurance for a pollicyholder when driving other vehicles.   Also, in Spain, unlike UK, if your Driver’s Licence in not valid, i.e. out of date, then you are not insured.  In UK where it is  ‘if you hold, or have held a DL’ then you are still covered.

As for the30 mins repairs at the roadside. Anything which amounts to some thing more than a loose spark plug cable,  no fuel,  flat battery etc.  (i.e.anything that could be fixed in that time by the average DIY person) obviously cannot be repaired in 30minutes at the roadside.  I personally have never found that provision to be unreasonable.

Although I am sure that you with your language skills, fully understand the conditions written in Spanish, I would point out to those who do not, that as we are in Spain, only the Spanish wording on documents is expected to be legally binding, those in other language are for policyholders who choose not make the effort to understand the Spanish..

I am insured with Abbeygate. Last year I had a breakdown in France. The breakdown vehicle arrived within 20 minutes the phone number of Coris had an English speaker. The guy who arrived did not try to repair the vehicle and loaded up his truck with my car and us, driving to the nearest garage. I found their service excellent and reinsured again this year.

I sometimes think you can bring problems by your own attitude and behaviour towards the people you have to deal with.

Not that I am suggesting in any way that was the case with poster alant. 

A lot of people are under the impression that if you have fully comprensive insurance on your own car they are covered to drive any other car on third party, well this is down to the discretion of the insurance company you are insured with, it's not an automatic part of the policy you bought, some insurance companies do, some don't, if this is what you wish to do then you must check when you buy the policy, not just presume it's so.

Also when you drive another car on you're fully comp policy thinking you can on third party cover, the car you wish to drive has to be insured in its own right.

As for social  /  domestic and pleasure insurance, why should it cover for you towing a trailer with pigs in, this is classed as a business use, and should be insured as such, as we all know thousands do this and get away with it every day, but like you when the s**t hits the fan the gripe come thick and fast, towing caravans are not the same as business use trailers, perhaps if you thought by talking to your pigs that was classed as being social, then get a caravan to transport them in.

Good idea though is put a bonnet on them in case the peek out the side windows.

Insuring the car then towing with it and being classed as overweight is quite the normal route any insurance company would take, after all the car they insured (Remember they didn't insure any trailers) has a recommended towing weight so thats what they go by, not a trailer load of 20 stone pigs.

When it floods it my area I get many cars come in that have gone through floods, sucked up water and destroyed the engine, the owner tells the insurance company "I was only doing 5 miles per hour" the insurance fits a new engine in the car if it is worth it, the customer tells us he hit the flood like a bat out of hell.

This breakdown cover is also up for interpretation in many ways, I deal with many people who have bought the extra "Breakdown Cover" or its included,  only to find that when they breakdown it's not always covered, for the insurance company it's in the wording "Breakdown Cover" some cars and parts are "Worn Out" ...So it means in the companies eyes the car didn't break down, the part that wore out is what caused the breakdown.

Breakdown insurance does not cover a trailer or caravan unless mentioned in the policy terms. Some companies cover them but Abbeygate or Coris does not. You need a separate policy with another company. Beware.